Hogwarts' Four and the Silver Sceptre
by cocoalover1956
Summary: A new group of first years have arrived at Hogwarts to master magic and find their place. But little does anyone know, an invisible darkness is stirring within the walls of their beloved school. An ancient conspiracy is rising, bent on conquest, and four young students are at the heart of it. How do you stop what you never knew you had unleashed?
1. Trip To Everywhere

Catherine Elizabeth Grant slipped out of her aunt's silver Toyoda feeling very uncomfortable. September 1, 2017 was an unseasonably warm day; it felt more like the beginning of August. As such, Cathy felt hot and uncomfortable in the collared blouse, pleated skirt, stockings, and penny loafers that her mother insisted that she wear and immensely grateful that King's Cross was air-conditioned.

Her mother Rachel, clad in a neatly dark-colored suit, led her to a restroom to check her appearance while her Aunt Monica waited outside with their bags and family cat, Ash.

"Are you excited about going to Hogwarts?" Rachel asked her daughter as she straightened Cathy's collar and smoothed back her hair.

"Yeah…" Cathy mumbled uncertainly.

Rachel's eyebrows drew together in concern. "What's the matter Kitty-Cat?"

Cathy's light brown eyes got misty. "What if the other kids can do magic and I can't? What if they don't like me?"

Rachel knelt down to gently wipe her daughter's small tears. "Don't worry my little Kitty. They wouldn't have sent you a letter if they didn't think you'd be a great witch. And if someone doesn't like you without giving you a chance, you probably wouldn't want to be friends with them anyway."

Cathy smiled, thinking her mother was the most amazing lady in the world. "Thanks mum."

"Alright then; we'd better get going. My train leaves in twenty minutes." She got up and took Cathy by the hand. "It's a shame you won't be home to greet me when I come back. Promise to write?"

"Of course Mum." Cathy smiled looking up. "Did Dad say what he thought of Hogwarts?"

Rachel looked away. "He said he thought it was fine. He's glad your getting a good education." she lied. She didn't want to talk about how Cathy's father had though she was joking about the magic, and that she'd gone along with it. "Let's find you aunt, shall we?"

They rejoined Monica, who was struggling with the rather adventurous Ash, at the platforms.

"Which platform does the train leave from?" Monica asked, leaning on their luggage.

"Professor Longbottom said we'd leave from Platform 9 3/4." Cathy answered as she craned her neck looking for that number.

Monica frowned. "There's no such platform."

"Hold on." Rachel dug into her purse and unfold and piece of paper. "The instructions say to run in the wall between platforms nine and ten. Oh dear..."

Ever the daredevil, Monica grabbed Cathy's belongings and crashed straight into the wall. Except she didn't crash; she vanished into the concrete.

That sister of mine…" Rachel grumbled under her breath as she and Cathy, hand in hand, followed her. Monica was standing on Platform 9 3/4, smiling brightly. Her family, though annoyed, couldn't help but smile back.

Platform 9 3/4 wasn't crowded, as it was only ten in the morning. There were a few families, nervous first time students and their nervous parents, and handful of older students who'd come on their own. None were as dressed up as the Grants. In fact, most of them were wearing t-shirts and jeans save a few were in long flowing robes and tall pointy hats; it made Cathy feel both dismally ordinary and embarrassingly snobbish.

She looked up at the Hogwarts Express; the huge scarlet train made her feel tiny. Professor Longbottom had said it was centuries old, which intimidated her. 'No.' she scolded herself, 'If you got into Hogwarts, you must be good enough. You _are_ good enough.'

After helping her get her luggage onto the train, Rachel and Monica bid her a tearful goodbye and rushed to catch Rachel's train.

With that, Cathy found an empty compartment near the middle of the train and sat down. As the hour dragged on, she took to looking out the window at the new arrivals, some little first years like herself, most of them older. So far everyone who'd gone on the train had walked right by her compartment which made her feel lonely and awkward.

A tapping on the glass door of the compartment snapped her out of her thoughts. Startled, Cathy looked up to see a boy smiling at her. He was about her age, pale with light blond hair, grey eyes, and a cage black owl under his arm. Shyly, she opened the door for him, glad that no blush could be seen through her dark skin.

"Hello." the boy beamed as he sat down and placed his owl beside him. "I'm Scorpius."

Cathy giggled, feeling more at ease, "Cathy Grant. It's nice meet you." Ash began to wiggle in her arms, trying to get to Scorpius' owl. "Sorry about Ash. He's very rambunctious."

"Ah, it's alright." Scorpius laughed, leaning forward, "Artemis can take care of herself, can't you girl." Artemis responded by affectionately nipping at her master's fingers. Ash jumped up to the upper shelves to nap.

A moment later, two other students, a boy and a girl, passed by their compartment. The boy was thin and shorter than his companion, but he had the loveliest green eyes. The girl had floppy red-brown curls and thoughtful brown eyes. When they caught sight of Scorpius, they flushed and looked away quickly.

Scorpius seemed upset too, judging from the way his skin turned pink and mouth scrunching downwards.

"Is everything alright?" Cathy asked gently.

Scorpius crossed his arms and sat back. "No." he answered shortly in a quavering voice.

Wanting to make her new friend more comfortable, Cathy changed the subject. "Did your parents go to Hogwarts? Mine didn't; they're muggles."

Scorpius' eyes got big and he turned pink once more, "Yes they did. A long time ago..."

Cathy tilted her head; something in the way he finished the sentence made her feel bad for him. Before she could say anything else, the train began to move and off they went. Scorpius waved out the window at a good-looking couple who looked like him.

"That them? Your parents, I mean." Cathy asked.

"Yeah." Scorpius fondly, his body relaxing, "What about yours? Are they here?" He then look surprised, like he hadn't been expecting to continue a conversation.

Cathy, for one, was relieved. "My dad's American, so I only talk to him on the phone a few times. I live with my mum and aunt in Southampton."

"Why doesn't your dad move?"

"His wife, my step-mum, doesn't like England. She says its too cold; she's from Texas."

"How can you have a step-mum if your mum's alive?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well how can your dad get married to another woman if his first wife's still around? Its that illegal?"

"Its legal if they get a divorce. But it doesn't matter, since my parents were never married to each other."

"What's divorce?" Scorpius asked innocently.

Cathy shook her head, shocked by how different marriage worked in the wizard world, "It mean their marriage is cancelled."

It was Scorpius' turn to look shocked, "But how do they break the bonds?!"

"What bonds?"

"The marriage bonds."

"There are no marriage bonds; at least not to my knowledge. Does it require magic? Because muggles don't have that."

Scorpius, feeling extremely silly, both laughed and blushed. "Yeah, it does. I guess those rules don't apply to muggles."

"So your parents had that wedding bonding thing done to them?"

"Marriage bond." Scorpius corrected, "Yes, they did. Everyone does it. Unless they're marrying muggles, because they don't have any magic to contribute to the bond."

"Can you tell me more about wizards? I don't want make a fool of myself at Hogwarts. Will I have to know any spells?"

"Actually they don't expect us to know any magic when we first get there. We can't to spells until we get our wands."

Cathy relaxed, "So I won't be far behind?"

"You won't have any catching up to do." he confirmed.

In this manner, they continued speaking, comparing the wizard world to the muggle world.

A while later, an older girl in the black school robes they were required to wear and a shiny badge on her chest knocked on their door. "Prefect Dominique Weasley." she introduced herself. "Just letting you know that we'll be arriving shortly and that you'll need to change into your robes before we do." She went to check on the other students.

"Alright, I'll go change." Cathy got up, grabbed her robes, and went to an empty compartment. She stripped off her preppy muggle clothes and slipped into the new black robes that she felt rather awkward in. As she was leaving, the curly haired girl from earlier, still in her muggle clothes, bumped into her.

"Sorry." she apologized, "Didn't see you there."

"It's alright." Cathy smiled as she got out of the girl's way. Before she could go, the girl touched her arm.

"Sorry. I just...I'm Rose Weasley." she held out her hand for Cathy to shake.

"Cathy Grant. Nice to meet you." she responded."Oh, was that your sister, the prefect?"

"Cousin, actually. There're a lot of us Weasleys" Rose clarified "I have thirteen cousins and seven of them are here at Hogwarts this year: Tori, Dom, Louis, Freddy, Molly, James and Al. Well, James and Al are surnamed Potter, but they're Weasleys by blood. I have a brother, Hugo, but he's too young to come."

The number of relatives made Cathy's head spin. "That's quite a big family. I never had any siblings or cousins. No wait, I have two half-brothers, but they live in America and I've never met them in person."

"I can't imagine being the only kid in the house. Christmas at my grandparent's place is the most chaotic event in the whole wizard world." Rose stated. "How do you know Malfoy?"

Cathy answered, smiling. "Oh we just met. He's been teaching me about the wizard world, since I'm a muggleborn. He's friendly, though quite shy."

"Is he now?" Rose quipped in pleasant surprise. "Well that's nice to know. I'll be seeing you." she closed the door behind her.

Cathy went back to the compartment she shared with Scorpius. Just as she entered, the train stopped.

"We're here!" Dominique Weasley's voice rang down the train corridor.


	2. Where They Belong

Albus Dumbledore was one of the greatest wizards who'd ever lived. Severus Snape was the bravest man his father ever knew. James Potter had given his life for his family. These were the men that had given him and his name and for the first time, Albus Severus Potter felt the full weight of their legacies bearing down on him.

The huge shadow of Hogwarts Castle fell over all the first years, both welcoming and intimating, like a strict grandmother. Hagrid the Giant, the elderly groundskeeper and a friend of his family, winked at him and Rose as they started for the boats. Albus started at the black, seemingly endless expanse of water and shivered. The warm morning had cooled to a chilly evening; summer had faded to autumn in the course of twenty-four hours. Only the gentle sound of little waves as the boats glided across the lake broke the silent black sky. Countless stars was scattered overhead, silently watching the final leg of their journey.

When they arrived at the front doors of the castle, a tiny man greeted them. He wasn't much taller than the new students, but he still carried the warm confident air of an intelligent and approachable authority figure. Though his small liver-spotted face was folded over several wrinkles and his scanty hair was withered and grey, his eyes sparkled with the excitement of a child.

"Hello. Welcome, welcome!" he chirped. His voiced carried a slight wheezing quality. "You are here to learn magic at Hogwart's. I am Professor Flitwick; I am the Head of Ravenclaw House and I will be your Charms instructor. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because while you are here your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour." the professor smiled then, as if a memory came to him, "The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. Don't be nervous, only completely truthful."

At this time, the students became restless and more nervous. Professor Flitwick led them inside. That Great Hall of Hogwarts was a large room with high ceilings that reflected the outsider sky. Hundreds of small candles floated in the air, lighting the room in a bright but gentle glow. In it were five long tables: a table for the staff and each of the four houses. In the center of the staff table sat an old woman with a severe air but a nurturing smile- Headmistress McGonagall.

Nervously, Albus waited in line with the other first years as one by one, the old Sorting Hat placed them in their houses. The first of them, "Bellemount, Beatrice", was sent to Ravenclaw.

"Grant, Cathy." The girl who he'd seen sit next to Malfoy on the train sat on the stood for but a moment when the Hat yelled "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Speaking of Malfoy, when his name was called, the Great Hall went quiet. The pale, blond boy sat on the stool. Albus was sure of where he'd be going.

The Hat screamed "GRYFFINDOR!"

The stunned, awkward silence remained; no-one had even clapped for the poor child. Malfoy, though looking very upset (at his sorting or everyone's reaction Albus couldn't tell), took it all in stride. He marched to the Gryffindor with his chin up and his shoulders back and sat at the very edge of the table. A few of his housemates, a couple upperclassmen girls, scooted away slightly. When Tullis Malsenior became a Slytherin, Malfoy was immediately forgotten.

Albus shifted uncomfortably; a dark, heavy sensation was settling in his chest. He felt very bad for Malfoy, which surprised him. All his life, he'd been told to never trust a Malfoy. Not by his parents (his father claimed that Narcissa Malfoy, the boy's grandmother, had saved his life) but by others, the people who remembered his family's allegiance to the Dark Lord. Though they uttered not a peep of blood purity rhetoric or dissatisfaction with the new Ministry, the Malfoys had always been treated with suspicion. After all, they'd tricked everyone into thinking they were innocent years before and returned to wreak havoc in Voldemort's name.

But, Rose had told him that she ran to Malfoy's friend, the muggleborn Cathy Grant, had called him friendly and shy. Perhaps it wasn't fair to judge him based on events that had occurred long before he had even been born; perhaps he would be different from his family. Actually Albus thought it silly to say "perhaps", since now young Malfoy would be the only lion in his family. 'Just like Sirius Black.' Albus thought. 'He was the only one in his Slytherin family to end up in Gryffindor. And they disowned him for it.'

His old panic set in. Would he share a similar fate if he were sorted in Slytherin? Sure, a few of his cousins had been sorted into Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but no Potter or Weasley had worn green and silver robes. He wished he could be last, but there were only so many names between him and the Sorting Hat.

"Martine, Marigold" "RAVENCLAW!"

"Nott, Felix" "SLYTHERIN!"

"Oslo, Vincent" "SLYTHERIN!"

Professor Flitwick, in his high, wheezing voice, called out his name. The Hall burst into cheers as the son of the Chosen One took his seat on the old rickety stool as put on the Hat that had decided the fates of countless wizards and witches.

'Do you know what you want?' the Hat asked him.

His father hadn't mentioned that. 'I want to be in Gryffindor.' he answered politely. 'I want to be like the rest of my family.'

'They why do I feel a pull toward Slytherin?'

Albus reluctantly answered.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Albus had been with the Hat for less that half a minute, so when the Hat gave its answer, the cheers ceased immediately. Albus rushed off his seat and sat at the Slytherin table as quickly as he could. As the sorting continued, Albus kept his head down, but he felt all eyes on him. He looked up a few times and once, he thought he saw Malfoy give him a reassuring smile from across the room. His older brother James just stared at him in disbelief; despite constantly teasing Albus about ending up in Slytherin, he hadn't considered it a real possibility The rest of his relatives did the same, except for Rose, who didn't look the least bit surprised. When Rose put on the Hat, it cried "RAVENCLAW!" The crowd rustled slightly, but not much, since they had grown used to non-Gryffindor Weasleys. Just not a Slytherin Potter.

After "Zill, Sebastian" was sorted into Ravenclaw, the feast began. The tables were piled high with roast beef and mashed potatoes smothered in gravy, plump rack-of-lamb, and an assortment of decadent desserts. Despite the presence of all his favorite foods, Albus was too sick to his stomach to eat anything. The whole Hall, including the faculty, alternated their attention between the food, Scorpius Malfoy, and himself. The Slytherins, to their credit, at least tried to be friendly, though they too gasped and gossiped behind their hands.

When the night had finished, and Headmistress McGonagall dismissed them, Albus and the other first years followed a rather severe looking prefect named Penny Isles to their dormitories. She led them down a few flights of stairs to a large stone wall.

"Basilisk." she announced to the wall. It opened, relieving the Slytherin common room. Penny turned to the new students and explained. "To get into the common room, you will have to remember the password. It changes every fortnight, so make sure to check the noticeboard before you leave. Professor Slughorn is our Head of House, but he won't be here to greet you tonight because he has an important meeting with the Headmistress. You'll likely meet him in the morning."

Inside, the Slytherin Dungeon was grand, but somewhat distant. The common room had lots of low backed black and dark green leather sofas with buttons, skulls, and dark wood cupboards. It was cooler than the rest of the castle, due to the fact that it extended under the lake; Albus could hear the splashing of the waves and see fish swim by in the windows. The lamps gave off a greenish glow that filled the air and reflected off magnificent tapestries illustrating the house's history.

"Left is the girls' dormitories; right is the boys'." Penny pointed her hands to two corridors in opposing directions. With the green glow shining on her pale face and fair hair, her robes and tall hat, she looked a bit like the mysterious muggle stage performers his father had taken him to see when he was younger. "Your room will the one recently vacated by last year's seventh-years and you'll be there the remainder of your time at Hogwarts, until you graduate and a new batch of first years take your place. Each of you will have four roommates. They will be like your brothers and sisters while you're here, so I suggest you try to get along. Breakfast will be served from seven to eight a.m.; lunch from none to one, and dinner from five to six p.m. At breakfast tomorrow, you will receive your class schedules. I would suggest you bring your books to you first lessons; things pick up rather quickly here."

With that, Penny set them off to find their rooms. Albus's new room was the last one in the corridor. The room was long and narrow and had windows on three sides. The plush four poster beds were arranged in a row, with each boy's belongings stacked neatly at their feet; Albus's bed was the last in the row, on the far side of the room. His new roommates were Felix Nott, Victor Yaxley, Tullius Malsenior, and Vincent Oslo; at least two of them he knew to be relatives of former Death Eaters. He wondered if they wished he and Malfoy had switched places, stayed where they belonged. The boys didn't talk to Albus or even look his way, as if they'd done enough staring and whispering at the feast. With a heavy heart, Albus changed for bed and stared out at the window from under his covers until he fell into an uneasy sleep.

A/N: To the person who asked me not to put them in different houses, sorry but its really plot-relevant that it happen this way.


	3. Not One Word

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy was not the kind of name you'd want if you planned to spend the next seven years of your life living in Gryffindor Tower. And yet, here he was, freshly awake under soft red sheets, high up in Gryffindor Tower. Scorpius had lain in bed replayed the previous night's events in his mind again and again, and thus, hadn't gotten much sleep. Now, however, his mind was blank, silent. He wasn't looking forward to finding new awful experiences to brood over that evening.

His roommates were all still asleep, tossed about their beds like discarded rag dolls The boy next to him, Timothy Tran, was completely upside down; his feet were twisted up in his pillow and his head was tilted on the footboard. A thick line of drool trickled down from the two corners of his mouth on his chin and pillow. His shoulder-length black hair bore such a striking resemblance to a bird's nest that it would be a wonder if he could ever correct it.

Scorpius, though still feeling like he were sinking in quicksand, let out a laugh. Tran, who was apparently a light sleeper, woke up with a start so great he fell out of bed. He sprang up and looked around suspiciously but all her was Scorpius getting out of bed.

"What so funny?" he demanded, waking up the rest of their room.

Scorpius shrugged, "You look ridiculous when you sleep." he answered lightly.

Tran crossed his arms. Matthew Watson, Nathan Finnigan, and Ares Bones had gotten out of bed as well and they flanked Tran against Scorpius. "What's that suppose to mean?" Tran challenged.

"You sleep upside down and drool more than a two year old." Scorpius stated flatly before rushing out the room. As he prepared for the day, he tried to keep down his temper. In any other dorm, the incident wouldn't have been such a big deal, maybe even funny, but not when one of the people in the room shouldn't have been there. As much as the thought stung, Scorpius kept it to himself.

Hurrying, Scorpius went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. When he arrived, a trio of Hufflepuff girls in his year appeared, chatting and giggling like old friends. The sight made him pout in jealousy until he realized that he knew one of them.

"Scorpius!" It was Cathy, flushed and bright-eyed, without a trace of yesterday's nervousness. She took her roommates by the hand and brought them to him. "This is my friend, Scorpius Malfoy." she introduced. "We met on the train yesterday. Scorpius, these are my roommates, Angel Delgado," she gestured to a tall, broad shouldered girl with Hispanic features and thick fuzzy eyebrows, "and Sonya Song." Cathy nodded in the direction of the short, slight Asian girl with short hair and choppy bangs.

"Your friend?!" Sonya gasped in incredulous disgust. "Don't you know who he is? What his family's done? Oh right, you're muggleborn."

Cathy was taken aback, "I don't understand what you mean."

"Why don't you ask your friend?" Sonya spat. "C'mon Ang." Angel sneered at Scorpius and followed her friend into the Great Hall.

Scorpius forced down the lump that was rising in his throat as Cathy's eyes darkened with confusion and doubt.

"What are they talking about Scorpius?" she asked hesitantly her voice low and clouded with concern. "Does it have something to do with what happened last night, when no one clapped for you?"

He didn't want to have this conversation, not now, not ever, and certainly not with Cathy. Nice easy-going Cathy. Once she knew the truth, would she look at him the way everyone else did. The thought made his limps heavy. "Now's not a good time." he muttered awkwardly as he turned a deep shade of red, the shade of shame. "Later perhaps?"

Cathy didn't look happy about it, but she nodded and then went into the Hall without him.

Scorpius stood there for a minute, deciding whether or not he should skip breakfast, but hunger won out and slugged inside to the Gryffindor table. When he sat down, his housemates decided to give him more space that he needed. All their shoulders were turned away from him, they're eyes never met he wanted to get away as quickly as possible, Scorpius ate quickly; with his appetite suddenly gone, there wasn't much to wait around for.

Sulking, he left the Hall in a hurry and went out to the lake. He sat on a solitary bench and watched the dark grey as if waiting for something to arise from its depth and deliver him from his troubles. Not long later, Cathy came up behind him through the morning fog, her shoes crunching the grass with every step. She sat beside him, eyes alert and expectant.

He was cornered now, so he began. "A long time ago, before my dad was even born, there was a huge war. The Dark Lord, V-Voldemort," he swallowed the name like a bitter potion. The Ministry of Magic has been trying to make people stop fearing the name, so they'd stop fearing the man. "and his Death Eaters hunted down muggles and muggleborns."

Cathy's face tensed and she inhaled sharply, "You mean, like me and my family?"

Nodding solemnly, Scorpius continued his macabre history lesson. "They-the Death Eaters-were fanatics of blood purity; they believed that wizard families were inherently superior to muggle families, so they tried to..to..."

"...exterminate us?" Cathy finished in a detached tone. She leaned back in her seat and exhaled deeply, closing her eyes. The way she'd said "us" made Scorpius shiver.

"It wasn't new, actually. For centuries there was this idea that having pure wizard blood made you smarter, stronger, and more important. Better."

"Do you believe that?" Cathy demanded. She opened her eyes and looked straight at him.

Scorpius didn't miss a beat. "Not one word. It doesn't mean anything to me."

"But it meant something to your family."

His shoulders fell in defeat. "Yes." he admitted, "My father and grandfather fought in Voldemort's name, killing muggles, torturing muggleborns, spreading terror." he shuddered again. The words tasted like metal. "Voldemort tried to kill a family, but their son, Harry Potter, survived. He couldn't kill the boy, so he vanished."

"Why? What happened?"

"No one knows for sure; Potter's not telling."

"His children are here."

"Yes. I've seen them." Scorpius shook his head, making his pale blond hair messy, "Thirteen years after Potter survived the Killing Curse, Voldemort reappeared, raised his army back up, and started another, much more terrible war. This time, he required my father; he was sixteen." This was the only time he'd ever explained what happened out loud-the only time he'd ever had to. Cathy's sense of discomfort was so palpable, he choked on it. "He did terrible things…"

"That's why people treat you like they do? They think you're like that?"

"Well they don't have to worry," Scorpius snorted bitterly, "Did you know my whole family's been in Slytherin? I'm the only Malfoy to ever be in Gryffindor. That kind of thing doesn't happen often, and when it does people notice; they talk. So now I'm not just the son of a murderer, I'm a freak to boot."

Contrary to what he expected, Cathy put a small, dark hand on his shoulder and firmly stated. "You are not a freak. You're my friend. If you think I'm going to mad over something that happened before you were even born, you're mistaken."

Scorpius was too stunned to speak. He wanted to stay outside with Cathy the rest of the day, but too soon, it was time for class-Cathy to Transfiguration and Scorpius to Potions.

The Potions classroom was a dungeon near the Slytherin dormitories, so Scorpius had little trouble finding it. But since he'd been out by the lake, when he entered class, the only seat available was next to a thin, black-haired boy with green eyes.

Albus Potter.

Of course.

When he sat down, Scorpius was completely unsurprised to see he'd caught everyone's attention. But with Cathy's reassurance, he found he longer cared what they thought of him.

"Albus."

"I'm sorry." he turned to his neighbor.

The boy focused on the tools and ingredients in from of him, but he repeated himself. "My name is Albus Potter."

'As if everyone doesn't already know who you are: the second son of the Chosen One. Just being polite I guess.' Scorpius mused, "I'm Scorpius."

Albus nodded and returned his attention to carefully organizing the potion ingredients and aligning the instruments. There was something in the way he looked at them-intense fascination, comfortable familiarity-that made Scorpius smirk slightly. Without a doubt, he knew Potions would be Albus's domain.

Professor Slughorn entered the room, grinning jubilantly at his class from under his thick silver, walrus-like mustache. "Good morning." he exclaimed, "Always wonderful to have a new set of students join my class. My name is Professor Slughorn and I will be your instructor in the art of potion making for the rest of your time here."

Scorpius had heard that the man loved to collect the children of famous wizards and witches or those who had the potential to be famous. However vain Slughorn was made out to seem, his first impression of the man, giddy and kind, dashed away any preconceived notions he'd had. Scorpius liked him right away.

The Potions professor continued, "We will spend most of this first class period discussing basic potion ingredients and their uses, as well as how to properly brew a potion and all safety precautions you will have to take."

Albus looked disappointed, "Professor Slughorn, I thought we were going to brew a potion on our first day."

Slughorn gave him an understanding look, "I'm sure you did." he said kindly. "But before you started brewing, you have to know what you're dealing with."

Instead of arguing, which Scorpius expected him to do, Albus nodded and took out parchment and a quill to take notes; everyone did the same. For the remainder of the period, the only sounds were that of Slughorn's voice and the scratching of quills as his students tried to keep up.

After what felt like forever, Slughorn concluded his lecture, assigned homework, and dismissed them. As Scorpius got up to collect his things, someone knocked all his belongings on the floor; his ink bottle shattered, ruining his carefully taken notes. Frustrated, Scorpius knelt down to salvage his work. To his immense shock, Albus got down to help him. Albus held up Scorpius's now worthless notes and crumpled them up.

"Hey!"

Albus reached into his bag, pulled out his own notes, and handed them to Scorpius. "Here. These are better."

"Won't you need them?"

Albus just shrugged.

As he accepted the notes, almost unconsciously, Scorpius smiled at him-a full genuine smile that looked like the sun. Albus smiled right back.


	4. Terribly Strange

Rose Christina Weasley was impatient for her first Defense Against the Dark Arts class to end. Professor Quickchaser was a young woman- tan, fit, red-haired- but her voice contained the same lifeless, droning quality as Prosser Binn, the ghost who taught the most boring class of all, History of Magic. Professor Quickchaser was fortunate that hexes, jinks, creatures, and curses were more interesting than countless goblin wars and pointless conventions, otherwise, like Binns, she'd be talking to the tops of their heads.

It wasn't that Rose thought Defense Against the Dark Arts wasn't a good class, even if they had a zombie of a teacher; she just had some rather pressing concerns to see to at dinner and the longer she remained in that classroom, the more she anxious she felt.

At last Professor Quickchaser spared the class another minute of her lecture, which was as dry as Rose was restless. As the other students packed up their parchment and quills, Rose ran out the room so quickly she blew everyone's belongings straight out of their hands.

"Where's the fire?" her classmate and friend Beatrice Bellemount, or Bee as she preferred to be called since Beatrice was the kind of name a seventy five year nanny had, shouted at her. Bee was a beautiful, heavyset girl with long, sleek dark ringlets and Eastern European features. By the time Bee had caught up with Rose, she was out of breath, her lovely features red with exertion.. "What...is...the...matter..with you? Aren't you...tired?"

"Nope." Rose slowed down out of courtesy, but her legs were begging her to run. "I ran track at my old school, a muggle one. My mum insisted."

The girl walked down a wide, sweeping staircase and into a fork in the corridor The path they'd taken was narrow, with wide ceiling and stained glass portraits. One portrait of a short, pale prince blew Rose a kiss, which she playfully returned. Bee rolled her eyes in amusement.

"What are you such a rush for anyway?" Bee asked she tried to flatten her flyaway hair back into their usual smooth curls.

Rose, whose hair remained at fluffy, bushy mess no matter what she did, rarely bothered with her appearance; better to embrace what was unchangeable. "I need to talk to Scorpius Malfoy."

Bee sucked in a breath. "What about?"

"I want to be his friend."

"His friend?"

Rose smiled and nodded.

"Forget him." Bee snorted, amused. She thought Rose was joking. "Do you think you can introduce me to cousin, the older Potter?"

"Jamesy? Sorry, but its against my moral code to play matchmaker between people I know. That kind of thing always ends in heartbreak."

"What? How do you know that?"

"I watch tape recordings of muggle shows my mum has that she thinks I don't know about. In the stories, every time someone brings together two people that they know, they're problems. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don't. Its stupid to waste energy on something like that. If you like James, talk to him yourself." Rose maintained a pleasant, slightly airy tone. "Besides, you're too young to want a boyfriend."

Bee rolled her eyes, "You're so dramatic. And you have no right calling me too young when I'm older that you."

"How do you know my age?"

"Your aunt, Ginny Potter, said 'Happy Birthday' to you in one of her articles a few weeks ago. I was born in March, which makes me older."

"So says the calender." Rose shrugged nonchalantly. "I feel more like a thousand than eleven."

Bee's eyebrows came together, "You're quite strange."

"No I'm not." Rose countered, "Little brothers are strange. I should know because I have one. You can't call me strange because I'm no-one's little brother."

"Logic doesn't work that way!" Bee snorted.

Rose gazed at her fondly, "'Logic works at the discretion of the one who wields it.'" she quoted, "Geraldine Fritz-Andrew, muggle philosopher."

"Why do you talk about muggles so much? You aren't muggleborn."

"No, but my mum is. She made sure I was aware of my muggle heritage."

"You could just take Muggle Studies in your third year."

"Yes, but I won't have the authentic experience would I?"

The narrow corridor opened up suddenly. The next instant, the were in the main entrance, about to enter the Great Hall. Rose stopped to the left the huge double doors; Bee followed. Hungry, tired students were pouring in from all directions.

Bee lowered her voice, "Are they are brutish as everyone says?"

"Well, sometimes; not always, but often. Many of them are extremely wonderful, though. Most are just in-between, regular. Like wizards, actually."

"Muggles are like wizards?" Bee tried to picture it, but the was as hazy as the misted windows of the corridor.

"Wizards without magic." Rose confirmed, "And slightly different habits. But basically the same."

"Are you around muggles a lot?"

"All the time. My family lives on the muggle side of London, so they're our neighbors; one of neighbors offered to babysit us once, but we couldn't risk it, what with Hugo still doing accidental magic. I used to go a muggle school, like I told you; my brother still goes there. Its a private school."

"Private? You mean you need a invitation to attend?"

"Sort of," Rose shrugged, "But theres public school too."

"Hmm..." Bee murmured.

At last they reached the Great Hall. Most of the students had already arrived for dinner. Rose scoured the crowd for Scorpius but came up short. She moved.

"Where are you going?" Bee touched her shoulder.

"To the Gryffindor table."

"Leave it alone Rosie. he won't want to talk to you anyway."

"He'll listen." Rose insisted. "Beside he's lonely."

Bee snorted, "So? Being lonely's no big deal."

Looking deeply into Bee's eyes, Rose whispered. "You don't understand that, so I'll forgive you."

Bee made a strange noise in the back of her throat. "Whatever floats your boat." she release Rose's shoulder and slipped off, ducking into the crown until Rose could no longer make out the shape of her beautiful black hair. It hurt a little, but Bee was better off that Scorpius, so she didn't worry too much.

With a sigh, Rose spun on her heel and continued her search. None of the Gryffindors paid her much attention-they thought she was just another lost first year. By the third time she'd gone up and down the length of the table, people started turning their heads and looking at her curiously. She ignored them.

"Hey!" a sixth year boy with oily skin, black hair, and grey eyes called. "Ravenclaw's over there."

Though it was unnecessary information, she smiled and nodded; once more, Rose craned her neck around to get better look.

"Are you looking for someone?" the same boy asked.

Before she could answer, Rose spotted her cousin Albus entering the Hall someone. "I found him." she told the boy before going off to meet him.

"Hey Rose." Albus smiled at his cousin.

"Hello, Al." Rose greeted. "Leave."

Albus' smile slipped in confusion. "What?"

"L-E-A-V-E." she repeated slowly.

"_Rosie_." Albus whined. "Why do have to be like that?"

"I want to talk to him," she pointed to Scorpius, "in private. See you later."

Annoyed, Albus bid his Scorpius and Rose goodbye and sat at his own house's table.

Rose turned to Scorpius with a toothy smile, "I'm been looking all over for you."

"You've been looking for me?" Scorpius repeated in a slight daze.

"I'm Rose Weasley." she began, "Its nice to meet you. Would you like to be my friend?"

Scorpius wasn't sure he'd heard right, "_You_ want to be _my_ friend?"

Rose giggled, "You're like my cousin Freddy's parrot, Lotta. She repeats everything I say."

"Sorry," Scorpius muttered awkwardly.

"Don't be; I think its cute," she replied good-naturedly, flicking her index finger across his nose. The compliment and affectionate gesture turned said nose pink. "Do you think I'm terribly strange?"

"A bit," Scorpius admitted, "But I-I like it. I like you."

Unexpectedly, she hugged him tight. Short, quick, for an instant her felt her warm body against his, her frizzy hair brushing uncomfortably on his face. The next instant, she was back in front of him, holding him gently by the shoulders, and looking at him in a way that made him blush deeper.

"Well, I'd better go," she muttered sweetly, "Dinner's half over. Meet my in front of the Great Hall before breakfast?"

"Sure." was his low, bashful answer.

Rose released him, "Alright then. Bye." She turned to the Ravenclaw table, gaving him a quick wave over her shoulder.

When Rose, who was in fact quite late, reached her seat, all the other Ravenclaw were already half-full.

"What was that?" Bee demanded from across that table.

"I became friends with Scorpius Malfoy." was the matter-of-fact answer.

Bee persisted, "But why?"

Rose took a sip of her ginger tea. "It's best not apply questions to relationships; it makes them awfully boring and more likely to fail."

"Are you dating him?"

"Absolutely not." Rose mimphed, "My feels are far too platonic."

"Too what?"

"Platonic-named after the Greek philosopher Plato, who said-"

"Is this another muggle thing?" Bee whined.

Rose blinked, "What's wrong with muggle things?"

"Nothing," Bee answered quickly, "But they get tiring after awhile Also, why do you know so much philosophy?"

"Philosophy is about ideas." Rose said shortly, "I like ideas."

Iris Virtia, another Ravenclaw in their year, overheard the conversation. "Is Malfoy like the rest of his kind?"

"Excuse us," Rose replied politely, "But we were discussing philosophy."

"Here's a philosophical question for you," interjected a bird-like third year boy, "Do you think raised by Death Eaters makes someone a Death Eater?" Several more people added their observations and pointedly asked Rose her opinion

Rose's patience wore thin as the interrogation continued, "Some people end up just like their parents and some people end up the exact opposite, so its hard to tell."

"Its get easier to tell as you get older; you start getting wise around when you come of age." a seventh year girl with an arrogant smile.

"Alright, that's enough, all of you!" Bee waved them off. Rose spent the rest of dinner picking at her pot pie and hoping for glimpses of Scorpius. When it has time to leave, Bee patted her arm and joked, "If you want to be friends with Malfoy, its fine by me. But he does anything, I'm gonna knock his teeth out."

Rose responded with a half-hearted smile.


	5. Night

December 2022 brought some of the bitterest cold to even grace the grounds of Hogwarts. Pale gray snow smothered the entire castle, over a foot off the ground, piling high on the towers. The harsh, unforgiving wind fought her way into the castle; she howled wickedly when denied entry. It was only in front of fireplace that Hogwarts' occupants didn't see clouds of their own breathe taunting them about the cold. The Headmistress had ordered several extra fireplaces constructed in the Slytherins' dungeon dormitories, lest the poor things freeze to death. Still, in every class, during every mealtime, and in the halls, the constant chattering of teeth remained the default background noise.

To Cathy, now in her fifth year, this was both a boon and a bane. The boon was that she could skip going to the greenhouses for her least favorite class, Herbology. The bane was that her best friend, Scorpius, would be missing Quidditch practice, which made him unbearably irritable.

"Let it go Scary." she had tried to tell him on their way to dinner. Since their Astronomy teacher, a strange American witch by the name of Ms. Darlington, continually mispronounced his name "Scare-pee-uhz", the nickname stuck. "Even you can't play in heavy snow and wind." He'd just shrugged grumpily, much to her annoyance.

He wasn't the only person in a bad mood. Albus' girlfriend, a Gryffindor named Melody Williams, had broken up with a few days prior and Rose was serving detention for the Defense Against the Darks Arts teacher, Professor Winchester, for arguing that students should be allowed to see the aftermath of the nastiest curses. Again. Not only that, a letter had been sent home, probably Winchester fearing that Rose had Dark leanings, and Rose had received a Howler from her mother.

To dampen the mood further, the Hufflepuffs had an important alternative test in Herbology to make up for cancelled classes. Cathy had only managed nearly decent grades in that class, and was very worried. Her roommate Melanie Smith was downright awful in the subject and kept badgering Cathy to study with her.

'At least Angel and Sonya aren't here.' Cathy thought to herself as she snuggled deeper into the blankets she'd brought from her dorm. Angel and Sonya came into the common room, blushing and giggling uncontrollably. 'I have the best luck.'

"Cathy!" Sonya greeted as if they were old friends.

Cathy forced herself to be polite. "Hello Sonya, Angel."

"You'll never guess what just happened!" Sonya gave a very un-Sonya-like squeak. "_James Potter kissed me!_"

"It's true." Angel jumped in. "I saw the whole thing."

"How nice." Cathy nodded absently as she bent over the Herbology textbook. Sonya took a seat by Cathy; Angel copied her. "What?"

"Do you think James won't like that I'm short?"

"I don't know." Cathy genuinely did not. She wanted nothing more than to get as far away from the conversation as possible.

Sonya seemed to grow impatient, "But his brother is your best friend! Surely you know something. Albus liked short girls, didn't he? He dated Melody Williams. Are you sure you don't know if his brother's the same?"

"And before that, Julie Thomas." Angel cut in.

Sonya looked worried "Who had James dated again?"

"Sammy Abbott, Thisbe Boot, Hollisa Malsenior..." Angel counted the names off her fingers.

As the two prattled on, occasional asking her about the Potter boys, Cathy felt a stab of annoyance. She didn't feel like discussing anyone's love life, least of all Albus'. She got up, muttering about having to go to the library. She holed herself up in the Charms section, absently looking through pictures of cute little spells she'd already learned until Madame Pince, the strict library Molly Weasley claimed lived solely for her books, forced her to leave.

It had gotten late, and the dimly lit corridors were bare of life. She glanced over her shoulder, hoping Filch the caretaker won't catch her out of bed at this hour. The hallway was practically frozen solid, so she conjured at a floating green flame to keep her warm. Still, her breath hung in front of her like best friend. She was sheathed in two heavy blankets that dragged along behind her. Her lips were slammed together to keep her teeth from chattering.

After a quarter of an hour, she admitted to herself that she was completely lost. What a shame-a fifth year not yet knowing her way! In time, the corridor narrowed into a single, small stairway. Though she knew it wasn't the way back to the Hufflepuff dorms, the stairway fascinated her. The instant she stepped foot on the first step, the cold vanished. Grateful, Cathy ran up, leaving her blankets behind. The stairway opened up to a strangely beautiful medieval room. The structure was no different than that of a regular Hogwarts tower, just older fashioned. Huge, richly decorated tapestries covered every inch of wall; the furniture, though finely carved, was worn, stuffy, and looked very soft.

'Home.' someone thought. 'Just as I remember.'

Cathy heard it in her head and for a second, assumed it her own emotion. But this wasn't her home; she'd never been here before.

'My bones feel as though they might break.' the voice sighed, 'I wish to rest.'

Cathy wandered into a room with a yellow door and fell asleep.

She woke up with a start, lying atop an unfamiliar bed, sometime in the mid-morning. Panicked, Cathy untangled herself from the sheets and raced out the door and down the stairway. She found her discarded blankets at the bottom just as she'd left them. It was cold again, so she clumsily wrapped them around her. A deep chill rising up from her feet informed her that she'd left her slippers upstairs, but she knew she didn't have time to retrieve them. Cathy instead ran from corridor to corridor trying to find her way and keep out the cold. As her frustration mounted, she found tears on her face. Fortunately, she came to a familiar corridor leading into the Transfiguration classroom. Unfortunately, some second year Ravenclaws was leaving class just as she appeared.

To the Ravenclaws, Cathy must have looked like some bizarre animal: her hair stuck out in complete disarray, quite like a poorly built nest, and her cheeks were wet; she stopped in surprise, and was shivering little some sad, frightened salamander in her bare feet; she wore pajamas at nearly midday with two mix matched blanket falling off her. The sight was so ridiculous, that they all burst into laughter. The second years' roars of amusement reached other students who were sidetracked into finding out what all the commotion was for.

Humiliated, Cathy sprinted at top speed into the basements near the kitchen and entered her House common room. It was completely empty. Fighting back the urge to cry, she went to own room and lay on her bed. The entire school had seen her in the most bedraggled state possible. Not to mention, she was sure a punishment with her name written on it was waiting to be enforced. All her time at Hogwarts she'd been a model student and now she was complete joke. They'd tell her mother and she'd completely freak out. At least, perhaps, Aunt Monica wouldn't be so harsh. Oh but the Headmistress would not be nearly as lenient as her aunt or even her mother. And her teachers! With the feeling that she'd just been dragged underwater, Cathy realized that she'd missed two classes. Her classmates must have noticed her absence. As would Rose, Scorpius and Albus. Now the weight of all her unpleasant thoughts forced the tears out and they came with a vengeance. Cathy sobbed into pillow until her throat was sore.

When she got up, she was a horrendous mess, so Cathy bathed, put on clean robes, and went to lunch. When she entered the Great Hall, she could have sword she heard everyone laughing at her. The other Hufflepuffs assaulted her with questions and demands but she'd been prepared for that, and shut them out with silence. She kept her eyes on her food, daring not to look anyone in the eyes. She especially didn't want to see her teachers' disapproval.

Sonya nudged her gently, "McGonagall want to speak with you." she muttered. "If what happened last night was my fault, I'm sorry."

"S'Okay." Cathy whispered though chattering teeth.

After her unpleasant lunch, Cathy went to her afternoon class, Study of Ancient Runes, and focused deeply to block out the rest of her day. When it was over, her teacher, Professor Rinnons, led her to the headmistress's office. The office was a large, round and beautiful room with nearly stacked books, ancient manuscripts, and used quills. The whole atmosphere was extremely scholarly.

Headmistress McGonagall got up from her desk. "That you Sylvia, that will be all," she said to Professor Rinnons. She then turned to Cathy, her expression full of anger, disappointment, and a bit of bewilderment. "You've always been a model student Ms. Grant," she began in a formidable voice, "Why, may I ask, did you disappear from dormitory past curfew and skip your morning classes? The whole school was worried _sick_."

Cathy shrank into a glob of misery, "I'm very sorry Headmistress McGonagall." she choked out hoarsely, "I went to the library last night, to study for Herbology test. Time got away from me."

"The entire night and most of the morning?" The Headmistress replied deadpanned.

After taking a deep breath, Cathy recounted her discovery of the odd tower. From the look McGonagall gave her, she knew she was not believed.

"Ms. Grant, in all my years, I've never come across or heard of any tower of that description in the location you assigned to it."

"Maybe it moves." Cathy argued. "Hogwarts is full of moving stairways and vanishing rooms; it could something like that."

McGonagall's mouth thinned to a hard, grim line. "Do I need to remind you that you've broken practically half the school's rules, Ms. Grant? What you've done was a great shame to your house."

Cathy winced, but held her ground, "Headmistress, do I seem like the kind of girl who would fall sleep in a strange tower?" she lowered her voice, "I didn't feel like myself when I was there; it was like there was another presence in my mind that wanted me to be there. There was a voice that sounded like mine, but it wasn't mine, in my head. It felt things that I didn't feel."

McGonagall exhaled sharply, "You should have told this to me first." she rebuked with a composite of anger and concern. "Has this happened before? The feeling that someone was in your head?"

"No ma'am."

"I can't let off for this, you realize? Hufflepuff will lose a hundred fifty points and you will serve three months detention with me after the holidays."

"I understand ma'am." Cathy nodded abjectly.

"In addition, I want you to take occlumency lessons; it's the study of prevent external forces from influencing your mind. I'll call you when I've found a suitable teacher."

"Um, alright."

McGonagall reached under her desk and pulled out a chocolate frog. "This will make you feel better."

"Ma'am?"

"Bad habit I picked up from the last headmaster. Take it."

"Thank you ma'am. And, I'm sorry."

For the first time, McGonagall smiled, a small line of amusement. "Goodnight Ms. Grant."

A/N: Ten billion apologies to the person whose review I accidentally deleted. My bad. I really do appreciate feedback. Also twenty billion apologies to all the people who've waited so long because I'm a lazy ass.


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